"I was doing what any 28-year-old man does on a Friday night: talking about relief pitching. As I was scrolling Twitter, I ran into a tweet from Sammy James, a co-host of the Play Tessie Podcast. Sammy is always thinking outside the box when it comes to roster moves, and pitched old friend Jalen Beeks as a potential fit for the left-handed relief role in the bullpen."
"He highlighted Beeks' changeup, noting the remarkably low batting average and slugging percentage against it. If you look at those numbers and nothing else, it appears to be an elite pitch. I dug in a little bit further, and while I found that the pitch was solid, I wouldn't place it among the league's best changeups. None of this is a knock on Sammy. He's got great insights and has as many ideas on how to improve the roster as anyone."
Sammy James proposed Jalen Beeks as a candidate for the Red Sox left-handed relief role based on an unusually low opponent batting average and slugging against his changeup. Deeper analysis finds the changeup to be a solid offering but not among the league's elite changeups. The Red Sox currently lack experienced left-handed relievers on the 40-man roster beyond Aroldis Chapman, and previous lefty options are no longer rostered. The team will likely pursue a left-handed reliever before the season via cuts or acquisitions, though urgency is limited. Primary data sources included Pitcher List, Baseball Savant, and FanGraphs.
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